Contents
Foreword 4
Our health today 6
Health drivers: how we live and the circumstances of our lives 8
Continuing to protect the public from threats to their health 10
Looking to the future 12
Our seven priorities 14
1. Tackling obesity 15
2. Reducing smoking 16
3. Reducing harmful drinking 17
4. Ensuring every child has the best start in life 18
5. Dementia risk reduction 19
6. Tackling antimicrobial resistance 20
7. Reducing tuberculosis 21
New drivers and opportunities 22
References 25
Figure 1. In the US, McGinnis et al show how healthcare plays an important though proportionately small role in preventing early deaths. Similar studies have supported these findings in the UK. Improving how we live our lives offers far greater opportunity for improving health. 6
Figure 2. From 1990 to 2010, the years of life lost to ischaemic heart disease, stroke and lung cancer9 reduced by 52%, 42% and 24% respectively, but these remain the top three causes of premature mortality in the UK. 7
Figure 3. The way we live has a significant impact on our health. Good diet and more exercise would help us live healthier lives. 8
Figure 4. There are stark health inequalities stemming from unemployment and socioeconomic status, as well as geography across the country. 9
Figure 5. Although life expectancy continues to increase, we are living longer with disease as more and more of us live with long-term conditions. 9
Figure 6. Ebola information poster published by Public Health England in response to the Ebola outbreak 2014, and displayed at major airports. 10
Figure 7. The successful introduction of a measles, mumps & rubella catch-up campaign to vaccinate unprotected children had an immediate impact on the numbers of cases of measles. 11
Figure 8. Body mass index projections for adults where current trends continue (based on Health Survey for England data 2000-2011). 12
Figure 9. Projected type II diabetes incidence with different levels of intervention. 13
Figure 10. Initial modelling suggests that over five million incidences of disease could be avoided if we could get back to what we weighed in 1993 by 2034 rather than maintaining current trends. 13
Figure 11. Prevalence of excess weight among children. 15
Figure 12. Smoking rates have declined much less rapidly among lower socioeconomic groups 16
Figure 13. Infographic depicting alcohol misuse damages to health 17
Figure 14. Inequalities in school readiness at the end of reception. 18
Figure 15. Projected increases in the number of people in the UK with dementia on current trends 19
Figure 16. Antimicrobial resistance in numbers. 20
Figure 17. Comparison of tuberculosis rates per 100,000 population in Western European countries and cities (2012). 21